Many people in northern Nigeria are resorting to rice grains that millers often reject after processing or selling to farmers to feed their fish to combat the region’s persistently growing cost of living. Because the grains are so hard, cooking and eating them is an ordeal. This is why these are known as afafata, literally meaning, battling, in the Hausa language, which is widely spoken in the north.
Isah Hamisu, a worker at a rice mill in the northern city of Kano, told the BBC that a few years ago, people didn’t care about this type of rice, and they usually threw it away along with the rice hulls, but times have changed. Even though the grains are harsh, filthy and broken, afafata is more economical because of their lower cost.
Owner of a fish farm Fatima Abdullahi remarked that although her fish love it, the cost of afafata has increased because more people are consuming it. Nigerian prices are rising at the quickest rate in almost thirty years. Inflation has increased in addition to external pressures due to President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the gasoline subsidy and depreciation of the naira.
A typical 50 kg bag of rice, enough to feed a family of eight to ten people for almost a month can now be purchased at an exorbitant price of 77,000 naira (Rs 4,270). This is more than 70% more than it was in the middle of the previous year and more than most Nigerians make in a month.
There were widespread protests in central Nigeria earlier this month with protestors complaining that they could not keep up with rising prices. A few days later, there was a similar demonstration in Kano in the northwest. Governor Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf later acknowledged that starvation existed in his state and stated that a solution had to be found.
For now, people have found a solution themselves in afatata, which some claim is a lifesaver as they would have gone hungry without it.
Comments
0 comment